Halloween Costume Ideas Inspired by Gary Numan

Gary Numan circa 1980

If you're looking for inspiration for a Halloween costume, Gary Numan's long and illustrious music career is a virtual gold mine of looks.  You need not be a fan of Numan to recognize the definable eras of electronic music in his incarnations over the years. Numan's style ranges from late 1970's punk, during his early Tubeway Army days, to 1980's New Wave, which has seen a resurgence in popular culture, to his current steam punk incarnation for his newest LP, "Splinter."
Science fiction, a desire to appear cold and unemotional, and a robotic stage presence shaped Numan in his early career. Interestingly, the look that most people associate with Numan, from the early 80's "Republicas" era, was purely accidental.  Just before an appearance on Top of the Pops in the UK, a make up artist put a layer of white make up on Numan's face to cover his "spots," otherwise known as acne.  His eyes looked like "pissholes in the snow," so they were lined in black.  And viola!  The Numanoid look was created.
Over the years he's had an all white with blue hair look, an all black and skinny tie look that screams 1980's, a suit and fedora look, an industrial look that is all about the 90's, possibly inspired by his admiration for Nine Inch Nails, an all leather look, a military inspired look, a goth look and a hip rocker in a black tee and jeans look.  I'm always interested to see what he's going to come up with next.
Enjoy taking a walk down electronic music history in the Numan photos below.  I've also included some photos of Numan's vixen of a wife, Gemma.  She supplies some female specific costume inspiration., not to mention great concepts in hair color.

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Gemma

Best New Album

If you listen to The Knix Mix, you know that I've been playing the self produced debut LP, The Bones of What You Believe, from the Scottish trio CHVRCHES religiously since it arrived in the studio in September.  Pun intended.  It is The Knix Pick for the best new release.  
CHVRCHES has managed to combine the elements that I can't resist in electronic music:  relatable lyrics that stick in your head and make you want to sing along, uptempo but wistful tracks that fuse indie pop and dance, and a synthpop sound with slick hooks.  Guitars are decidedly absent.  The vocals supplied by Lauren Mayberry, who studied to be a lawyer and was an award winning journalist, don't hurt either.  I'm always a fan of distinctive female vocalists, and Lauren's is emotive, raw and occasionally soars in tracks like my current favorite "Lies."  Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, the other two members of the trio, were kicking around Glasgow's indie scene prior to working with Lauren.  Cook and Doherty handle most of the instrumentation and Doherty provides some vocals.  Apparently, the band name CHVRCHES has no particular religious connotation and is styled with a "V" to make Google searches easier.  
There are the inevitable comparisons to Depeche Mode, which I've noted on more than one CHVRCHES review.  Most likely because they opened for Depeche Mode this summer.  It seems like every alternative band with melancholy lyrics, synthesizers, and the potential for mass appeal is compared to Depeche Mode. (Other bands survived the 80's and went on to critical success too, no?)  I'm thinking Garbage myself.  Being that there are charismatic Scottish chicks fronting both.  Remember Shirley Manson?  It seems to me that fans of The Golden Filter, Naked and Famous, M83 and Cut Copy will find something to love about CHVRCHES  .  There really isn't a throwaway track on the disc.  Check them out, and see if you don't find yourselves singing "I can sell you lies!  You can't get enough!" with enthusiasm after a listen or two.

Contrapposto on The Wicked Good Music Hour

Saturday, October 5^th will go down in the annals of The Wicked Good Music Hour history as the first time an electronic act appeared on the show.  I’d heard a bit of buzz about a Portland duo who called themselves Contrapposto, and my curiosity was piqued when I saw the video for their song “Cousinfriend,” which featured people (agreeable friends) in indigenous face paint on an alpaca farm (The Roaring Lion Farm in Rumford).  Part music, part performance art, I knew immediately I had to book them for my first hosting gig on The Wicked Good Music Hour.  Happily, they agreed!  Their live appearance was only mildly hampered by an equipment compatibility issue, but with the engineering of Wicked Good’s host, Matt Murphy, Jake and a quick call to WERU’s Joel Mann, we had a successful show.  It seems listeners liked what they were hearing because WERU received a few calls about Contrapposto.

It is not a surprise that two very creative people, Mirabai Iwanko, a graduate of Maine College of Art and a printmaker, and Jacob (Jake) Pitcher, a photographer, would name their collaborative efforts after a term used in visual art.  “Contrapposto” means “counterpose” in Italian and is used to describe the way in which a person shifts their weight to one leg when standing.  For instance, imagine a mother with a child on her hip.  Mirabai describes how human forms in sculpture became dynamic and expressed emotion and psychological disposition where historically, prior to the ancient Greeks, sculpture appeared unnatural and stiff.  “It’s such a simple thing to notice the way someone is standing, but it means so much,” said Mirabai.  Mirabai and Jake have themselves tossed out the conventional to create something decidedly their own.  Describing their style as "zoomorphic-electro," Mirabai said that they came to that description because “for me, in songwriting, a lot of the time I’m comparing animal attributes to humans, and that’s kind of how I describe life and behavior.”

Speaking of the Greeks, the mythological Fates may have been at work in bringing Mirabai and Jake together.  They were both working at Bayside Bowl as cooks and as they cooked, they would listen to music to pass the time, which got them talking about music.  Mirabai told Jake that she sang and wrote lyrics.  Jake was already writing music and working with synthesizers, so they started collaborating.  Mirabai said, “From the moment we got together, we knew we wanted to keep playing together.”  In person, their chemistry is apparent.  In another twist of fate, Mirabai’s parents and Jake’s father all happen to practice Siddha yoga, a spiritual path guided by meditation, which was a surprise because neither had ever met anyone else their own age with that kind of background and upbringing.

Mirabia is a sprite of a girl with a unique voice and an artist’s way of looking at the world.  Her vocal style is reminiscent of Bjork, not so much in the tonal qualities of her voice but the quirky, avant garde fashion in which she delivers the lyrics.  Mirabia has never had vocal lessons.  She does, however, have a serious music pedigree being that her uncles were members of the late 80’s-early 90’s Boston based post-punk band, Human Sexual Response.   Mirabai said her uncles have been beyond supportive of Contrapposto.  In an odd “six degrees of separation” coincidence, some of my besties (“Hi,” Wentworth sisters!) were babysat by her uncles many years ago, and they remain friends.

Mirabia draws inspiration from every day things, turning musings about ordinary experiences into metaphors for life.  Themes about animals and nature play a big role in her lyrics.  For instance, the duo’s newest song “Quills” is about a camping trip Mirabia and Jake took, where there were an abundance of porcupines, doing what porcupines do, and a quill that lodged in Jake’s foot when he was trying to get close enough to take a picture.  Mirabai describes the song as a metaphor for trying to get close to someone you love.  Another song, “Ostrich Eyes,” was inspired by the death of Mirabai’s goldfish.  It’s a made up story about an ostrich that pokes fun at the way, when you’re a kid, you lose a pet and get a new one, and problem solved!  You’re not sad anymore.  Jake proclaims this to be his favorite song.  “It’s amazing!  It sounds like an Arthurian legend.”  “Rope Grown” is about Mirabia working at a fish market for three summers and picking lobster meat.  She became so fast at it that the repetition of it developed into a mantra in her head, “knuckle, claw, tail,” which is what she’s singing on the track.  The Siddha Yoga that Mirabai and Jake learned growing up, which involves the use of music and mantras in meditation, is another stylistic influence.

Jake has an ironic sense of humor and is masterful at creating complex sounds with electronic instrumentation.  (He was amused when I inarticulately described them as “electronic people,” which I think would be a great song title, no?)  Jake said that the music he produces sounds complex, but it’s really not.  “It’s simple.  It’s repetition.  It’s multiple layers, and I think you hear or can experience the same profound repetitive effect from music like the mantras we listened to growing up.  Consciously or unconsciously, a lot of the songs are based upon these really sort of ancient root structures for music and religious hymns.  “Cousinfriends” exemplifies that because it’s two chords and a sampled guitar riff.  It’s very, very simple.  She’s singing about her cousins.  There’s no great mystery.  You write about what you know.”  Their creative process is improvisational.  “We throw stuff at the wall and whatever sticks, sticks,” he said.  Or Mirabai will come to him with a funny sound she has in mind, then she’ll write the lyrics, and Jake will write the music or tie a piece of music he already has created to her efforts.

One of the experiential components of Contrapposto is that they employ costumes and artful stage make up in their performances.  Their intent is to create a theatrical production that is different each time.  They describe being given giant rams’ heads by their friend who owns the African Museum of Tribal Art in Portland and employing them in their costuming.  Jake said that they had fun reinventing their (the rams’ heads’) purpose in the world, joking that he used one to create a Contrapposto shrine and gave it food, incense and orange soda, but it was rained on.  I half believed him!

Judging from their performance on the Wicked Good Music Hour, it’s hard to believe that Jake and Mirabai have only been working together as Contrapposto for about a year.  Mirabai said that they have been lucky to have played quite a few venues in Portland, but they’re ready to branch out.  Contrapposto opened for Human Sexual Response’s reunion show in Boston last November, which they agree was “amazing and terrifying.”  Over 2000 people attended, and it was only Contrapposto’s 4^th show.  Mirabia created elaborate costumes for the show, and they had a lot of fun with the experience.  It was also the first time Mirabai had a chance to see her uncles perform live.   A performance at the Planetarium is planned for mid-January.  They’re both excited about that show because they will be able to project imagery onto the ceiling, though they haven’t decided yet what the imagery will be.  The curious should plan to check out the show and see for themselves!  Contrapposto has a 3 song EP out, and they’re in the process of finishing enough songs to put together an album.  They have 8 songs in their line up now.  Mirabai said that since the EP came out, their style has changed, and they want to keep their music “fresh.”  Their goal is to finish the album and go on tour.  I, for one, will be rooting for their success!

To learn more about Contrapposto, visit their website and Facebook pages.

https://www.facebook.com/contrappostomusic

http://contrapposto.org/

https://soundcloud.com/contrapposto-2

Danny Saber Interview

Danny Saber knows music.  The LA native has had an admirable career that spans over two decades.  As a musician, songwriter, record producer, audio engineer, remixer and DJ, his versatility as an artist has led him to projects as disparate as playing guitar and bass in the British band Black Grape to producing major artists to scoring films.  I had a chance to chat with Danny on The Knix Mix about his new album “Saber Bytes Vol 2,” which was released digitally in May and is out on CD as of October.  Danny credits the rise of his career to being in the “right place and right time in history.”  He had an early interest in music and connected stylistically with everything from hip hop to metal to R&B and soul.  He started playing guitar as a kid and, as he evolved as a musician, he started dabbling with drum machines and 4 track tape recorders.  He got his hands on a sampler before they were mainstream and became one of the first people in LA to have one.  Danny said he was lucky because “all the things that were being done technology wise, I was there at the beginning.  Once the gear became more acceptable and, as it grew, I was ready.  It put me in a unique position.”

I was curious how it came to pass that a kid from LA ended up in Black Grape with front man Shaun Ryder, formerly of Happy Mondays.  Along with The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays were the leaders of the Manchester scene in the late 80's and early 90's.  The band fell apart in 1992 in the wake of Shaun's drug addiction.  Ryder formed Black Grape in the mid 90's and recruited Danny to play bass and guitar.  The band released "It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah" in 1995 to much acclaim.  The movie “24 Hour Party People” is a semi fictional account of Shaun’s early days.  Danny said he was trying to break into the music business in LA and came to produce a demo for Proper Grounds, which was the first band Madonna signed to Maverick Records.  He co-wrote a 1/3 of the record and was signed to a publishing deal with EMI.  Danny got them to send him to England, which was a personal dream for him.  Not only is his mother’s family British, but he also wanted to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Jimi Hendrix.  “He went to England.  I needed to go to England” said Danny. He was managed there by the same company who managed renowned producer Butch Vig.  Vig was asked to produce Black Grape, but he didn’t have the time and wasn’t the best fit.  Danny was given a shot.  As it turned out, Danny and Shaun had good chemistry.  Danny reflects that he “hooked up with the right guy at the right stage in his career and the right stage of my career.”  He said “I was young.  I was too stupid to know what I was up against.  I was really hungry and had the right sort of skill set to complement Shaun.”

As Danny’s career took off, he came to work with a resume of artists that reads like a “Who’s Who” of popular music across genres including Madonna, David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Busta Rhymes and Willie Nelson.  “Music is music.” according to Danny.  He said that there’s not that much difference between working with someone like Willie Nelson to the Rolling Stones.  “It’s all musicians making music.”  He had the good fortune of working with some of the best people in different genres.  As a producer, he’s tried to be flexible and bring out the best in the artist.  “You have to recognize what’s great about them and create an environment for them to succeed.  It’s almost like an octopus.  There are all these tentacles of musical places I’ve been.” he said, laughing.  Danny, reflecting on his long career, said, “There are so many things I forgot I even did!  It was pretty amazing when I look back on it now.”

“Saber Bytes” is a grassroots effort by Danny that grew with the collapse of the mainstream music business.  Danny has seen the shift from the days when he was getting paid a lot of money to work with people to being asked to do it for nothing.  “Now it’s about just making stuff and putting it out there.  It’s been challenging.”  He said It has become the responsibility of the artist to find a way to maintain being artists.  “So many artists have been coming to me, and we’ll find a way to do a few tracks together.  I kind of woke up with a stockpile of all this material and all these really great artists, and they don’t know where to begin.  What I do is a little outside of the mainstream in the sense, especially these days, when who has a shot at a major label is a narrow sort of corridor now.  There’s viable artists out there, and I wanted to try to create a vehicle for them to get their stuff out.  That’s what this is really about.”  It is also a way for Danny to “create his own little piece of real estate to stand on built on his own name and what he can do in these changing times.”  Danny has no backer for the album, so showing your support by asking for it in record stores and buying the CD when it drops “is an important part of the puzzle” to keep his efforts going.  Danny said the record has done really well thanks to college radio and independent radio like my home base, Community Radio WERU FM.  Danny said “Saber Bytes Vol 2” was the Number 1 record on a number of stations and has consistently been in the Top 30.  The album has been getting a lot of support, and “It’s based on the strength of the music.” according to Danny.

“Saber Presents Saber Bytes Volume 2” is available on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/danny-saber/id473295, and the CD is available as of October.  To learn more about Danny, check out his website at http://dannysabermusic.com/.

Pretty Lights at Alfond Arena

On Friday, September 20^th the eager crowd stood in long lines snaking all the way out to the parking lot.  Something big was happening at Alfond Arena.  Indeed, self-described electro soul hip hop producer Pretty Lights aka Derek Vincent Smith was in town to perform.  A reported 2600 tickets were sold for the event, which “surpassed expectations” according to Sarah Goode, VP of Student Entertainment.  I’d had a chance to speak with Derek about his new album “A Color Map of the Sun” on The Knix Mix the week prior, and I was happy to be in attendance to show my support.  Derek, a Colorado native, was particularly looking forward to this show because a close friend and artist on the Pretty Lights label went to school here and raved about Maine at this time of year.  Naturally, I agreed since I am a Maine native and highly prejudiced in this regard.   I also highly recommended Derek try a Maine lobster while he was here, and he promised he would.    The Pretty Lights performance at Alfond was one of the last of his summer touring cycle and the production was perfected on the festival circuit.  Derek vowed Maine concertgoers would hear Pretty Lights “at the top of his game in a synchronized multimedia show.”

On The Knix Mix, I asked Derek about his inspiration for “A Color Map of the Sun,” which was recorded in Brooklyn, New Orleans and the Pretty Lights studio in Denver, Colorado.  He composed all of the songs and wrote most of the lyrics.  Interestingly, some of the lyrics are reworkings of old gospel songs and members of the Harlem Gospel Choir contributed vocals.  Derek’s goal for the album was to make something “classic and timeless that is emotional and intriguing while also being interesting sonically.”  While all the tracks on the album speak to him, he particularly likes “Color of My Soul,” which is the track that originally inspired the album.  Pretty Lights has always employed a free download model, which has become “a philosophy of creation and artistic expression.”  Still a surprising 15,000 copies of A Color Map of the Sun sold in the first week while another 100,000 copies were downloaded for free, placing “A Color Map of the Sun” high not only on the electronic charts but propelling it to number 24 on the Billboard Top 200.  Derek is currently busy with his directorial debut, which will be a music video for a remixed version of “Color of My Soul.”  He says that the song inspired the video and the video in turn can come back and re-inspire the song, which will make for “a cohesive piece of art.”  “An audio, visual, emotional experience.”

 We spoke about the inspiration for Pretty Lights’ characteristic style.  Derek said his musical taste is deeply rooted in an early appreciation of vinyl and a love of hip hop.  Different than a lot of producers who started with synthesizers or computers, the foundation on which Derek built his style is the record.  He said he spent a lot of time digging through flea market record crates.  Derek said he discovered he was especially drawn to a certain era of sound, particularly a 60’s soul sound, when sampling records.  He also uses sounds from music genres, vocals and instruments, some bizarre, that span an entire century.  He takes the best of everything and works it together in a new and interesting way.   In a live setting Derek manipulates songs, using a number of tracks he and friends remixed off the album, mixing and producing on the fly, throwing a party with Pretty Lights tracks that make you “dance and drop hard.”  The result is that each performance is fresh and innovative.

As the crowd poured into the arena, I took up a position in the middle rear of the floor, so I had an ideal view of the stage and could surreptitiously people watch.  The concert goers, mostly college students, were doing their best to emulate the festive party atmosphere of an outdoor music festival despite the indoor arena locale.  The uniform de rigueur appeared to be neon.  Lots of neon.  And glow accessories.  Lots of glow accessories.  The girls were bedecked in booty shorts and tank tops in shocking shades of pink or green, and the boys favored board shorts and brightly colored tees.  To me, it’s a look more at home on the boardwalk at Old Orchard Beach, but what do I know?  When I was at UMaine, all my friends wore black and listened to morose bands like The Cure and The Smiths.  Our party music tended towards angry industrial like Ministry and Nitzer Ebb.  Notably, a number of the girls were rocking a boho-chic headband around the forehead look while the boys favored trucker style caps.  Emblazoned on more than one were the words “Sorry mom.”  Indeed, there was twerking a la Miley Cyrus going on, which would give most parents a coronary.

One of the unique things about Pretty Lights’ music is that it is appreciated across music genre boundaries.  What I like to call “alterna-kids” were represented at the show, though in lesser numbers than the neon clad masses.  I was visually stalking a boy wearing all black from head to toe except for a red skinny tie.  He had long New Wave style crimped bangs peeking out from a porkpie hat.  He couldn’t have stood out more than if he was plucked from 1986 and deposited by a DeLorean onto the arena floor.  It’s a look I love but haven’t seen much of since Flock of Seagulls topped the charts.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you are not my age, and you should look up Second British Invasion immediately for reference.  There was a group of hippie chicks wearing flowing dresses and sporting dreadlocks who admirably owned their corner of the floor, dancing ethereally in a manner I associate with the Cocteau Twins.  Also seen were three people sporting multicolored light up LED gloves who joined together to face off in a battle of the neon fingertips.  I’m not sure who won.

There was reserved seating at the show, but the majority of attendees took up a position on the floor.  So many were pouring over the short wall between the seats and the floor that it reminded me a bit of that scene in World War Z where the zombies were spilling over the fortress wall.  You know the one.  A rousing chant of “USA!  USA!” was heard before the lights went down.  The crowd erupted when opening act, producer and DJ Kap Slap, started his set.  Club remixes of popular songs had the crowd cheering.  People danced, girls were hoisted on boys’ shoulders for a better view, and there was even some crowd surfing going on.  There was a bit of a snafu before the second opener, producer and DJ 3LAU, went on.  Dean of Students at UMaine, Dr. Robert Dana, announced to the crowd that the performance would not continue until people who held tickets for reserved seating got off the floor and into their seats per the fire marshal.  Those who were allowed to remain on the floor were wearing the requisite wristbands.  It took about 20 minutes and an impassioned plea from 3LAU, who had driven all the way from Las Vegas the night before after his flight was delayed, for the crowd to disperse.  The mood was dampened slightly, but it wasn’t long after 3LAU’s set began that people were back in a party mood.  3LAU’s set included his original mix “Escape,” which was received with much enthusiasm.

When Pretty Lights took to the stage, he delivered on his promise to be at the top of his game.  Derek’s gear was set up high on the stage and he is tall in stature, so he is a commanding force on stage.  One has the impression of a genius maestro at play.  The Pretty Lights stage production is a spectacle to behold in itself.  At the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2009 Derek was the first to unveil a video screen on stage, which was commonplace by the time he played at Bonnaroo for the 3^rd time, this year, so he decided to “go backwards to go forwards” and take the video screen out.  Instead he created interesting light effects using state of the art lighting fixtures and lasers, hidden disco balls and filament bulbs.  He employed three dimensional laser shapes onstage instead of simply laser beams.  The result is a visual delectation.  Most importantly, Derek seemed to be having fun on stage, which was infectious, and the crowd responded in kind.  When Pretty Lights’ headlining set was over, the crowd pleaded for an encore with a chant of “One more song!”  Derek obliged with a 20 minute set.  As I left Alfond to head to my car, I noted that most of the people leaving en masse were sweaty but upbeat.  A definitive sign of a good show if you ask me.  My only remaining thought was “Hmmm.  I wonder if Derek ever did get to try a Maine lobster?”